Well, that's it for cinema news for today. Now stayed tune below for ...

And, finally for today, apropos of nothing, a video of the inimitable Mr. J. B. Shayne and John Tanner, circa 1980, interviewed by Terry David Mulligan.

November 30, 2011

Tomboy: Nuanced Tale Explores Pre-Adolescent Gender Identity

Midway through the 30th annual Vancouver International Film Festival, while surfing through VanRamblings' twitter account, we ran across a rave from Hitfix film contributor Guy Lodge, for Céline Sciamma's award-winning Tomboy, a reportedly unassuming, delightful and nuanced gem of a tale of ten-year-old Laure (Zoé Héran) who moves to a new neighbourhood over the summer holidays, and impetuously decides to introduce herself to the local kids as Mikael, a boy. Tomboy opens this Friday at the VanCity.

Here's what some of the critics have to say about Tomboy ...

Entertainment Weekly's Lisa Scharzbaum writes, "The startling power of Tomboy, a beautiful, matter-of-fact French drama about a young girl who wants to be a boy — and for one singular summer around her 10th birthday passes as one — begins with the one-of-a-kind natural performance by Zoé Héran as Laure. Taking her family's move to a new neighborhood as a chance for reinvention, she introduces herself as Mikael, happily playing sports with the guys and even attracting a romance-minded girl (Jeanne Disson). Equally admirable in Céline Sciamma's hopeful drama: Laure's empathetic parents. Grade: A-

The Los Angeles Time's Robert Abele writes, "Quiet and naturalistic in the best way, the French film Tomboy rolls out a tale of malleable pre-adolescent identity with a marked absence of sensationalism ... Anchored by Héran's bravely nuanced turn and the impish cuteness of Malonn Lévana — whose giddy joy at briefly inheriting a protective older brother is thoroughly charming — Tomboy stands out as an especially affecting delicacy about the thrills and pitfalls of exploring who one is.

Now we just have to wait for the Friday opening of the critic friendly Oscar contender The Descendants, starring certain Oscar nominee George Clooney, and My Week With Marilyn, with rave reviews for Michelle Williams in the lead role, and the boffo box office holiday weekend will be complete.

November 23, 2011

Heroes of Vancouver's Left Pass On. The Community Pays Tribute

Two heroes of Vancouver's left passed away yesterday. Ben Swankey, a lifelong activist, died at age 98. As Georgia Straight editor Charlie Smith wrote last evening, "In 2003, the City of Vancouver turned his 90th birthday into "Ben Swankey day".

Swankey's 2008 autobiography, A Prairie Marxist's Memoir, was edited by Vancouver councillor Geoff Meggs. In 2008, Tom Sandborn wrote in The Tyee that Swankey had "worked as a bartender, road construction labourer, organizer, salesman, journalist, editor, author, lecturer and researcher. He helped found an influential civic political group (COPE) in Vancouver. And well into his 80s, he agitated for seniors' and health care rights."

To many, Ben Swankey was a hero. He will be missed.

Activist and teacher Bob Rosen was equally well-loved as Ben Swankey.

Bob Rosen passed away Tuesday morning at the age of 64. As Bill Tieleman wrote in his tribute, "Bob's music, commitment to the fight for social change and his humanity will be deeply missed." As recently as last month, I saw and spoke to Bob each day at the 30th annual Vancouver International Film Festival, as we exchanged perspectives on the films we had seen, or planned to see, on any given day. As always, Bob was welcoming, with a warm and kind spirit, and always ready to engage.

I had met and worked with Bob in the 1970s and 80s when I was active in the British Columbia Teachers' Federation. Although we were but passing acquaintances, when we ran into each other over the years, we always greeted one another and took time out of our day to talk politics.

At a time when Vancouver's left appears to be in disarray, particularly following the defeat of the Coalition of Progressive Electors at the polls this past Saturday, Bob Rosen's and Ben Swankey's voices will be missed.

November 22, 2011

Politics, Christmas, The Holiday Season, and The Movies

While VanRamblings continues to ruminate on what, if anything, we'll say about the Vancouver City municipal election this past weekend (and believe you me, we are possessed of strong feelings about both the campaigns and the we're-not-too-happy outcomes), life marches inexorably forward.

As much as we like politics (and we do), we love film, as we have done since we were a wee lad. The holiday period which, it would seem, is already upon us — just last night a friend wrote to say that she and her husband were putting up their Christmas decorations — is notable in the Tomlin household for the plethora of fine, Oscar-worthy film fare that week in, week out find their way onto a screens in your local multiplex.

Last evening, VanRamblings took in Martin Scorsese's brilliant 3D adaptation of Brian Selznick's best seller, Hugo, an absolutely lovely and gorgeously filmed valentine to the movies, the story of a young orphan, clock keeper, and thief who lives inside the walls of a bustling Paris train station, circa the early 30s. Due out Wednesday (American Thanksgiving, don'tcha know), Hugo is not due for particularly wide release, but is nonetheless first-out-of-the-gate Oscar fare, and definitely worth a sit.

We write today, though, to present more trailers of upcoming films that will cause you to plunk your hard-earned dollars down at the cinema box office, between now and year's end. First up today, Meryl Streep in The Iron Lady:

The reviews are already out in England, and although some critics are iffy on the movie as a whole, absolutely no one across the pond or stateside has anything but praise for Meryl Streep's interpretation of Maggie Thatcher, particularly the latter part of the film's descent into dementia.

Now, if you want to catch Owen Moverman's Rampart, and Woody Harrelson's apparently knocks-it-out-of-the-park Oscar contending performance, you're gonna have to look long and hard, cuz the film is not going to get a wide release, and as is often the case with niche art films picked up by tiny indie distributors, unless you're a movie fanatic and live for films like Rampart, and read widely on 'specialized films', you're not going to read much about it, either. Still, it took the critics by storm at the Toronto Film Festival, which means that this slice-of-life corrupt cop saga should emerge as the palliative we'll need to rescue us from the more saccharine film fare that will clog our movie theatres in the coming weeks.

November 21, 2011

Coming To A Theatre Near You, Nov. 25th: My Week With Marilyn

November 4, 2011

The State of the 2012 Oscar Race, and an Upcoming Popcorn Flick

VanRamblings' bets that there are some of you out there who believe that we are some sort of film snob. Perish the thought, not so. We love well-made, well-acted, well-filmed and flashy popcorn fare just as much as the next moviegoer. Of course, unlike many, we demand a coherent story, emotional investment in the characters who appear onscreen, and something approaching art in the films we designate as being worthwhile.

To that end, we ran into a trailer for a new popcorn-style thriller while surfing the 'Net yesterday. Starring Denzel Washington, Ryan Reynolds, Vera Farmiga, Brendan Gleeson, Sam Shepard, Rubén Blades, Robert Patrick and a host of others, the American début film by Swedish director Daniél Espinosa is schedule for release as first-rate, Tony Scott Man on Fire-style thriller fare, Friday, February 10th, 2012. We'll be there.

Wondering what the state of the Oscar race might be two and a half months before Oscar nominations are announced?

As we mentioned in a previous post, the folks behind MovieCityNews (that would be, among others, that site's founder, David Poland) each November publish a weekly update of contenders for Best Film, Best Actor and Actress, Best Director, etc. through until the announcement of the Oscar nominations, the last Tuesday of January; in 2012, that's January 24th.

Have a look at the next page, then click on the graphic to be taken to the MovieCityNews page where Hitfix's Gregory Ellwood, Deadline Hollywood's Pete Hammond, the Toronto Star's Peter Howell, Entertainment Weekly's Dave Karger, the Los Angeles Times' 24 Frames blogger Mark Olsen, MovieCityNews' own David Poland, The Wrap's Steve Pond, Award Daily's Sasha Stone, In Contention's Kris Tapley, Indiewire's Anne Thompson, Movie|Line editor S.T. VanAirsdale, and USA Today's Susan Wloszczyna weigh in on the state of the Oscar race at the beginning of November 2011.

November 3, 2011

Thursday, and It's Raining, So We Bring You Film and Song

A Top 10 VanRamblings' favourite at the recent Vancouver International Film Festival, the Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner Like Crazy is due to open in Vancouver on Friday, November 18th. VanRamblings has two tickets for anyone wishing to attend the advance screening of Like Crazy at Leonard Schein's Fifth Avenue Cinemas, 2110 Burrard Street, 7 p.m., on Wednesday, November 16th. This is the romantic film of the year — be sure to bring some hankies along, cuz you're gonna cry. For two tickets, just post an e-mail to VanRamblings, by clicking here, and we'll e-mail you the passes for you to print from your computer. Get there early!

The latest movie trailer for Steve McQueen's upcoming NC17-rated Shame, a surefire Oscar contender, has just appeared on the web. Here it is ...

November 2, 2011

Casting News, Catherine Deneuve, Roman Polanski and Repulsion

As a follow-up to our story yesterday about Justin Timberlake being cast by the Coen's as the lead in their new film, Inside Llewyn Davis, more casting news of note regarding five films set for production in the new year.

• First up, James Gandolfini is in talks to join Steve Carell and Jim Carrey in Burt Wonderstone, the story of a famous but jaded Vegas magician (the title character to be played by Carrell) who fights for relevance when a new, "hip" street magician (Carrey) appears on the scene. Olivia Wilde will play Carell's love interest, and Steve Buscemi has signed to play Wonderstone's friend and partner. 30 Rock's Don Scardino will direct from a script rewritten by Jason Reitman. Burt Wonderstone is scheduled to start shooting in January.

• Mads Mikkelson, who starred as the bad guy in Daniel Craig's Casino Royale, has been set to star in The Hunt, which is about to start shooting in Denmark with director Thomas Vintenberg (The Celebration), a co-founder of the Dogme 95 movement with Lars von Trier. Co-written by Vintenberg and Tobias Lindholm (Submarino), the script follows Mikkelson as a recently divorced small town man accused of abusing a small child.

• Up in The Air's Anna Kendrick has been cast in Pitch Perfect, a musical romantic comedy. Kendrick will play Beca, a rebellious and goth-like college student who discovers her voice in her school's female a cappella group. Shooting will commence later this month.
  
  
• In somewhat more serious casting news, Tom Hooper's The King's Speech follow up, Les Misérables (which hasn't been done on film since Bille August's 1998 version with Liam Neeson and Claire Danes), just added Eddie Redmayne (My Week With Marilyn, The Good Shepherd) to its all star cast. Playing Marius, he will join Hugh Jackman (Jean Valjean), Russell Crowe (Inspector Javert) and Anna Hathaway (Fantine). The musical has its heart set on Oscar 2013, with a December 2012 release date (after all, The King's Speech dominated the 2011 Oscars). This edition of the Victor Hugo classic was written by William Nicholson, with Claude-Michel Schonberg and Lain Boublil doing the music. Working Title's Tim Bevan, and partners, will produce.
  
  
• Amanda Seyfried, currently in theatres starring in Andrew Niccol's In Time, has been cast as Linda Lovelace in Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman's (Howl) movie about the controversial 70s porn star. Peter Sarsgaard is reportedly in negotiations to play her husband Chuck Traynor, the pornographer who coaxed her into becoming an adult film actress. Reports indicate that the film's screenwriters, Andy Belling and W. Merritt Johnson, based their screenplay on Eric Danville's book The Complete Linda Lovelace. A career killer for Seyfried, or a 'breakout' role? Time will tell. Filming on Lovelace is expected to start in January.
  
  
  
• Colin Farrell and Dragon Tattoo's Noomi Rapace have been cast in Dead Man Down, a mob drama to be directed by Niels Arden Oplev, who helmed the original The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, which starred Rapace. The shoot is scheduled for an early 2012 start.

Read More...

Posted by Raymond Tomlin at 8:24 AM | Permalink | Cinema

November 1, 2011

An Early Week Potpurri of Cinema-Related Coverage

Shame, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, and Tyrannosaur lead the British Independent Film nominations: The three UK movies have received seven nods apiece for this year's awards, the ceremony to take place in London on December 4. We Need to Talk About Kevin and Kill List each received six nominations, with Submarine following closely with five. Jury members for this year's 14th awards include actor David Thewlis, producer Charles Steel (The Last King of Scotland) and director Josh Appignanesi (The Infidel).

Best British Independent Film
Senna
Shame
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Tyrannosaur
We Need To Talk About Kevin

Best Director
Ben Wheatley - Kill List
Steve McQueen - Shame
Tomas Alfredson - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Paddy Considine - Tyrannosaur
Lynne Ramsay - We Need To Talk About Kevin

Best Actress
Rebecca Hall - The Awakening
Mia Wasikowska - Jane Eyre
MyAnna Buring - Kill List
Olivia Colman - Tyrannosaur
Tilda Swinton - We Need To Talk About Kevin

Best Actor
Brendan Gleeson - The Guard
Neil Maskell - Kill List
Michael Fassbender - Shame
Gary Oldman - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Peter Mullan - Tyrannosaur

Best Supporting Actress
Felicity Jones - Albatross
Vanessa Redgrave - Coriolanus
Carey Mulligan - Shame
Sally Hawkins - Submarine
Kathy Burke - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Best Supporting Actor
Michael Smiley - Kill List
Tom Hardy - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Benedict Cumberbatch - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Eddie Marsan - Tyrannosaur
Ezra Miller - We Need To Talk About Kevin

Anne Thompson weighs in on how the Brit awards affect the Oscars.

Read More...

Posted by Raymond Tomlin at 8:08 AM | Permalink | Cinema

October 31, 2011

Another Week, More Movies, and Life Goes On

Although word out of the Toronto Film Festival suggested that Lars von Trier's Melancholia was wanting in terms of film craft, Sukhdev Sandhu's review in the Telegraph would suggest otherwise, as would Eric Kohn's IndieWire take. Still, Peter Bradshaw writing for The Guardian calls the film absurd, but pulls back in his criticism when he writes, "for all its silliness and self-consciousness, this is the happiest experience I've had with Von Trier for some time." Seems like we're going to have to make up our own mind. Melancholia should arrive in Vancouver sometime in November.

While we're in a trailer mood, how about a bit of Michelle Williams as Marilyn Monroe, in the bath soaping herself, and singing ...

Read More...

Posted by Raymond Tomlin at 7:37 AM | Permalink | Cinema

October 28, 2011

Week's End Film News Before We Go Political This Weekend

Truth to tell, Oprah Winfrey is not one of our favourite people in the world.

VanRamblings believes that the indefatigable Ms. Winfrey single-handedly created the 'victim culture' during the course of the early years of her eponymous and ubiquitous afternoon talk show, when she paraded one sorry soul after another onto her stage in a litany of 'woe is me, I have no control over my life, even if none of what's happened to me is my fault, there's nothing I can do to make my life better, more livable, there's nothing I can do to become a productive citizen, all I can do is whine and feel sorry for myself' programming that had a profound effect on how a whole generation of young women growing up came to see themselves, in the process creating a culture of alienation and anomie complemented by pop culture coverage vapid enough to turn your stomach, resulting in a do-nothing, apolitical generation of 30-somethings committed to avarice and dionysian want, who add nothing to the sum total of our existence.

Read More...

Posted by Raymond Tomlin at 8:07 AM | Permalink | Cinema

October 27, 2011

Oscar Watch: Even More Trailers of Upcoming Oscar Contenders

What one aspect of a film contributes to a film's consideration for Oscar contender status over the holiday season? Heart. And tears, and joy.

No matter who you are, entering a darkened screening room you want to be moved, to laugh, to cry, to come out of the cinema feeling better, more whole, your priorities realigned. You want to feel that there's nothing you can't do, that the whole world is open to you. And if the story that has unfolded before you over two hours is a story of family, and redemption, all the better. What film follows into that category this holiday season?

Read More...

Posted by Raymond Tomlin at 8:18 AM | Permalink | Cinema

October 26, 2011

Cinema: A Round-Up of Film-Related Stories For The Week

For those of you who missed it at the 30th annual Vancouver International Film Festival, Yoav Potash's powerful and gripping documentary Crime After Crime is set for broadcast on Oprah Winfrey's OWN network (in Canada) on Thursday, November 2nd, at 6 p.m., Pacific Standard time. Potash's documentary is must-viewing. Set your PVR now to record one of the most moving and entirely astonishing chronicles of corruption in the U.S. justice system. In December, OWN will broadcast another outstanding VIFF 30 documentary, One Lucky Elephant, which premières on December 1st.

Read More...

Posted by Raymond Tomlin at 8:32 AM | Permalink | Cinema

October 25, 2011

Oscar Watch: Oscarologists O'Neil and Feinberg Slug It Out

Above and in some detail, Gold Derby's Tom O'Neil (on the left), long affiliated with the Los Angeles Times but back out on his own in the Oscar blogging world, and The Hollywood Reporter's Scott Feinberg discuss the upcoming Oscar race, probable Best Picture nominees and performances, and issues related to the pending release of some of the better Hollywood fare that will reach our local multiplexes over the next couple of months.

The salutary aspect of the pending 'Oscar race' is that it doesn't make a whole lot of difference to the quality of our lives on this planet, but as we've written before, serves pretty much in the capacity of harmless diversion (unlike most of the train wreck news which passes for entertainment reporting we read in our local tabloid rags, or view on our TV screens) and, perhaps, helps as well to identify for us upcoming picture releases worth seeing, which we might very well have overlooked if not for the steadfast work of film journalists like O'Neill and Feinberg above.

Posted by Raymond Tomlin at 8:24 AM | Permalink | Cinema

October 23, 2011

An Appreciation: The Contrarian Film Criticism of Pauline Kael

From 1968 through 1991, Pauline Kael was the pre-eminent film critic in North America, writing for The New Yorker. A polemicist of the first order, Kael was known for her witty, biting, opinionated, sharply focused and penetrating criticism. That she wasn't widely loved — who of strong opinion ever is — is a given. Nonetheless, her contribution in the arena of film criticism remains a sustaining chronicle, an invaluable cultural contribution.

One of her early, pre-New Yorker reviews (from her salad days in San Francisco), addressed the emotional import Vittorio De Sica's classic Shoeshine had on her. The world of film criticism, never mind the larger world, had never read anything like it, as she set out in her characteristic manner to interpret and express what was for her (as it is for all lovers of film) the transformative effect that the viewing of a film might have on the way one experiences, and places into context, the travails of their own life.

When Shoeshine opened in 1947, I went to see it alone after one of those terrible lovers' quarrels that leave one in a state of incomprehensible despair. I came out of the theatre, tears streaming ... I walked up the street, crying blindly, no longer certain whether my tears were for the tragedy on the screen, the hopelessness I felt for myself, or the alienation I felt from those who could not experience the radiance of Shoeshine.

Later this week, Viking Press and the Library of America will publish and make available to the public Pauline Kael: A Life in the Dark, a controversial biography of one of America's leading film critics, about which the New York Times' lead film critic Manohla Dargis writes ...

Given how badly she comes across in the biography — palling around with filmmakers she reviewed is merely the beginning — she doesn't set a good example. Her passion for film burned bright and long, but what's missing, at least in this telling, is an equal passion for, and pleasure in, life beyond the screen. The book is queasily readable, but it reconfirms that Kael's work no longer speaks to me. I rarely if ever, find myself thinking, gee, I really want to reread her hyperventilated rave of Robert Altman's Nashville. What's more interesting now is how she continues to function as a player and signifier in certain discussions about '60s and '70s American cinema, at least for an earlier generation.

The Hollywood Reporter, and former lead Variety, film critic Todd McCarthy begs to differ with Dargis' rather unkind adjudication of the worthiness of Brian Kellow's commemorative Kael tome, writing in his review of the book:

While it's possible to regard the subtitle of Pauline Kael: A Life in the Dark as subtly snide, author Brian Kellow strongly suggests that Pauline, as she was called by everyone and is invariably referred to in these pages, lived most intensely in a darkened theater ... To an impressive degree, he gets inside the head of a precocious, fearsomely smart young woman from small-town California and is able to describe what drove her, which authors turned her on (James, Hawthorne, Dostoyevsky, Melville, Woolf, Proust), her love of jazz and her distaste for aesthetic, religious and political dogma. So thoroughly does he portray the development of Pauline's character and passionate engagement with matters aesthetic that it comes as no surprise she was able to burst onto the scene, at the relatively advanced age of 48, as one of the most dynamic cultural arbiters of the past century.

The "Paulettes" — as Kael acolytes, such as Movieline's Stephanie Zacharek, Entertainment Weekly's Owen Gleiberman and New York Magazine / NPR film critic David Edelstein are known — have yet to weigh in on the publication of Pauline Kael: A Life in the Dark, but you can be assured theirs will offer a rousing defense of Kael's body of work, and her place in the pantheon of American film criticism.

Posted by Raymond Tomlin at 12:03 PM | Permalink | Cinema

October 21, 2011

VIFF 2011: The Wrap Up Post, Audience Award Winners & More

With the 2011 Vancouver International Film Festival fading into memory, today's post constitutes VanRamblings' final entry covering the 30th annual VIFF, the focus on the films which garnered an overall audience appreciation, based on the many thousands of ballots cast, according to meticulous VIFF calculation the top 10% of films screened at VIFF, receiving an audience score of between 4.4 and 5.0, for 28 films in total.

That many of VanRamblings' favourites — including Corpo Celeste, My Little Princess, Wish Me Away, Michael, Mitsuko Delivers, Tyrannosaur, Without, The Singing City, The Jewel, Like Crazy, Martha Marcy May Marlene and Restoration, among many, many others, did not make the final 'audience favourites' list just goes to show how subjective is the experience of filmgoers seeking a window on the world through their attendance at VIFF.

Here, then, are the top VIFF 2011 vote-getters, in alphabetical order ...

Read More...

Posted by Raymond Tomlin at 12:24 PM | Permalink | VIFF 2011

October 20, 2011

Cinema: A Potpurri of Film Items To (sort of) End The Week

Did you notice the swell looking graphic at the top of today's post?

Intrigued?

In a story published on Anne Thompson's IndieWire blog, Vancouver emerged in fourth place worldwide as the place where filmmakers might choose to shoot their film. Locations one through ten? Here they are ...

1. Los Angeles, California
2. New York, New York
3. New Jersey
4. Vancouver, B.C.
5. Toronto
6. Montréal
7. Texas
8. Chicago, Illinois
9. New Mexico
10. Australia

Want to see the same thing graphically, and with much more detail? All you have to do is click here. Thrilling, huh? (ok, maybe not quite so much).

October 19, 2011

Oscar Watch: Early Contenders in the Major Categories

Having had a look at Jeffrey Wells' Hollywood Elsewhere Oscar Balloon, peeked at Sasha Stone's Contender Tracker take on the Oscar race (scroll down, right side of the page), and Kris Tapley's In Contention 2011-2012 Oscar Predictions, VanRamblings is confident that should you read what follows you'll have a handle on the probable contenders in the coming Oscar race, all of which serves to point in you in the direction of a handful of quite decent films already in your local multiplex or soon to arrive.

BEST PICTURE

The Artist
The Descendants
Drive
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
The Help
The Ides of March
The Iron Lady
J. Edgar
Midnight in Paris
Moneyball
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy
Tree of Life
War Horse

October 18, 2011

Oscar Watch: More Trailers of Upcoming Oscar Contenders

In the early going, the sight unseen favourite, the numero uno pick for the Best Picture Oscar has to be, going away, Steven Spielberg's War Horse, adapted from the play (and the book with the same name) by acclaimed children's writer Michael Morpurgo. Set for release Christmas Day, even the most cynical film critic will not discount the prospect of Spielberg's War Horse walking off with all the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Oscar hardware late in the evening of Sunday, February 26, 2012.

October 17, 2011

Oscar Watch: Best Foreign Language Film Nominees, by Country

This year, perhaps more than any Oscar year in recent memory, the stage has been set for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to make more relevant choices, forced to do so by the number of prestigious contenders entering the race with palpable Festival buzz from across the globe, not the least of which comes from our own Vancouver film festival.

From Asghar Farhadi's A Separation to the art-thriller Miss Bala, which has generated considerable crossover appeal among the journalist bloggers who influence Academy decision-making, at the 2012 Oscar ceremony we may be in for the most nourishing winner we've seen since Caroline Link's Nowhere in Africa — VanRamblings' favourite film of the past decade — took the Best Foreign Language film prize in 2003.

As of this past Thursday, the Academy announced that 63 countries have entered potential nominees for the Best Foreign Language Oscar, to be awarded at the 84th Academy Awards the evening of February 26, 2012. The Academy's Foreign Language Committee will review all the submissions and vote for the five nominees. The final five nominees will be announced the morning of Tuesday, January 24, 2012 at 5:30 a.m. PT.

The films that appear to be the primary frontrunners include Vancouver International Film Festival Audience Award winner, A Separation (Iran), Nadine Labaki's Toronto Film Festival Audience Award winner Where Do We Go Now (Lebanon), Anne Sewitsky's Happy, Happy (Norway), Aki Kaurismäki's Le Havre (Finland), Agnieszka Holland's In Darkness (Poland), Monsieur Lazhar (Canada), and The Flowers of War (China).

The official submissions for the Best Foreign Language Oscar are:

Albania, "Amnesty," Bujar Alimani, director;

Argentina, "Aballay," Fernando Spiner, director;

Austria, "Breathing," Karl Markovics, director;

Belgium, Bullhead, Michael R. Roskam, director;

Bosnia and Herzegovina, "Belvedere," Ahmed Imamovic, director;

Brazil, "Elite Squad: The Enemy Within," José Padilha, director;

Bulgaria, "Tilt," Viktor Chouchkov, Jr., director;

Canada, "Monsieur Lazhar," Philippe Falardeau, director;

October 16, 2011

VIFF30 Aftermath: The Fall Movie Season Takes a Serious Turn

Now that the 30th annual Vancouver International Film Festival has come to a close, not all is lost for the cinéastes who desire film of humanity, stature and consequence. Before year's end, there are any number of worthwhile films that the most diehard VIFF filmgoer might look forward to, including the following six films, the previews of which we present today.

October 15, 2011

VIFF 2011, Day 16: Awards to Films Screened at VIFF30

The 30th annual Vancouver International Film Festival wrapped its 16-day run last evening, Friday, October 14th. The winners of two juried awards, and five audience awards were announced prior to the screening of The Kid With a Bike, the Cannes' Palme D'or winner from the Dardenne brothers, Jean-Pierre and Luc, which screened at the Vogue theatre Friday night.

Without further ado, here then are the 2011 VIFF award winners ...

The Canadian Images jury announced two awards. The jury included Beth Barrett, programme manager of the Seattle International Film Festival; photographer, filmmaker and educator Dana Claxton; and filmmaker and chinlone (the national sport of Myanmar) expert Greg Hamilton.

First up, the Shaw Media Award for Best Canadian Feature Film for feature directorial début - and its $20,000 cash prize - went to Anne Émond of Québec for Nuit #1. The jury selected Émond's film "for its unflinching intimacy and atmosphere of containment with candour and lucidity."

Guy Édoin's Wetlands received an honourable mention for Canadian feature film, the Canadian Images jury noting that VIFF presents one of the largest showcases of Québec films outside of Québec. Canadian Images jury member Dana Claxton presented a $2,000 cash prize to Ontario's Andrew Cividino of Ontario for We Ate The Children Last, praising the film's director for Children's "creation of an apocalyptic, yet fully believable world."

October 14, 2011

VIFF 2011, Day 15: Where To Go For Film News Post Festival

The 30th annual Vancouver International Film Festival wraps today, and weary filmgoers are preparing to return to their lives, once again assuming the mantle of responsibility that comes with being a conscious person — living life with a purpose — in our troubled, and often troubling, times.

As it happens, there are a handful of bloggers who live for film just as much as the most diehard VIFF patron. These bloggers perform no small feat: rewarding employment for themselves arising from the uncommonly acute, and for those of us who count themselves as fans of their work, the much appreciated decision to dedicate a significant portion of their lives to coverage of film from across the globe. Insightful, informative coverage.

Emerging each autumn, leading up to the nominating and awarding of the Oscars these bloggers not only write about film passionately — having attended many, many of the critically most audacious film festivals held in far-flung places across our globe — they also become the 'experts' in the burgeoning field of Oscar prediction, setting the agenda for who and what will be nominated. These bloggers assume the bully pulpit of film coverage.

October 13, 2011

VIFF 2011, Day 14: Memories of the 30th Vancouver Film Festival

October 12, 2011

VIFF 2011, Day 13: An Enlightening Darkness Settles In Once Again

VanRamblings started our Festival dark — Without, Tyrannosaur, and Michael — two weeks back, and we're ending our Festival the same way: with Pure on Thursday night, and perhaps the darkest of the dark night of the soul film at this year's VIFF, Sean Durkin's Sundance psychological thriller, Martha Marcy May Marlene, which we saw Tuesday evening.

At the 30th annual Vancouver International Film Festival, the word audacious might appropriately be employed in discussion of some aspect of a film screening at VIFF30 merely three times ...

• Alicia Vikander's stunner of a performance, dark, disturbing and utterly humane, if ever so twisted in the realization of such, in Pure;

• Eva Ionesco's enthralling début film, My Little Princess, this film more than any other screening at the Festival employing every key element of the craft of filmmaking — sound, colour, words and feeling — in what has to be considered the cinematic and artistic triumph of the year; and

• Elizabeth Olson who, as in the case of Vikander and Ionesco, finds herself at the centre of a film, Martha Marcy May Marlene, in which she surrenders deeply and hauntingly to the inexorable passage through the hours of her existence, and whatever horror may come from the move forward through her shuddering life.

Read More...

Posted by Raymond Tomlin at 8:24 AM | Permalink | VIFF 2011

October 11, 2011

VIFF 2011, Day 12: As The Festival Wends Its Way To a Close

VanRamblings is, this week, ramping down our coverage of the 30th annual Vancouver International Film Festival, as the Festival sets about to screen its final film this Friday evening, October 14th. And, of course, that will be it for VIFF30, resplendent with cinema from across the globe, 375 features and 100 more short films having screened at five venues across Vancouver.

Still, there are a few more films we'd like to write about, beginning with ...

• My Little Princess (Grade: A): The most audacious directorial début we can recall in recent memory, Eva Ionesco's trenchant, autobiographical film offers a disturbing, accomplished and authentic tale of Ionesco's unconventional relationship with her mother, Irina, in the most fully realized and beautifully sweeping cinematic fever dream of a film we've screened at the 30th annual Vancouver International Film Festival.
  In the 1970s, Ionesco's mother rocked the Paris art world with photographs of her naked, pre-pubescent daughter. In interviews, Ionesco recalls that her mother began posing her provocatively when she was just four. In My Little Princess, Violetta (played with exquisite perfection by newcomer Anamaria Vartolomei, in the most auspicious and moving début performance we've seen at VIFF 30) is ten when her wildly unconventional mother, Hanna (Isabelle Huppert), takes the fun of dressing up in old clothes to a new and decidedly troubling level.
  As Irina increasingly sexualizes her daughter, Violetta turns into a Lolita figure, standing forlornly in the school playground in tight hot pants, swaggering into the classroom in full make-up and wearing clothes that could only be deemed inappropriate. Twelve-year-old Vartolomei is the saving grace of the film, as she gives a tough, moral, centered and very strong performance, always true to herself and to the character she is portraying, lending the film an integrity that otherwise may have not been present, in the process taking the film from what might have been considered demeaning and exploitative film fare to the realm of art.

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Posted by Raymond Tomlin at 6:29 PM | Permalink | VIFF 2011

October 10, 2011

VIFF 2011, Day 11: A Thanksgiving Tribute to the VIFF Staff

Brie Koniczek & Maja Klempner, VIFF exhibitions staff, out front of the Empire Granville 7

Although VanRamblings continues to harbour much affection for volunteer co-ordinator Iulia Manolescu, who during this Festival has taken on the venue management responsibility for the Granville 7's Theatre 5, we have this year made daily contact with, and come to depend on, Brie Koniczek and Maja Klempner — who, no matter what time of the day or night — may be found at their post near the entrance to the Empire Granville 7 facilitating the best possible Vancouver International Film Festival for you.

Brie and Maja have made VanRamblings' Festival in 2011. No matter that we might feel the tribulations arising from a lack of sleep defined by a tendency towards a confused state of mind, or when at some point in the day we find ourselves in a curmudgeonly mood, out front of the Empire Granville 7, you will find Maja, her face aglow with that warm, wonderful, and welcoming smile, so beatific that any patron's concerns would simply melt away. Brie, as is the case with Maja, simply exudes a hardy competence and, as you can see in the photo above, her smile is not only welcoming, but calming. Brie co-ordinates the passholders' ticket table, which in these latter days has come to run with a sense of systemic élan. In 2011, Brie is the heart of the exhibitions staff, who possesses an administrative skill par excellence (she's sees everything out front of the Granville 7 - lines moving in efficiently and well? you can thank Brie).

VanRamblings is grateful to Brie and Maja. Thank you so very, very much!

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Posted by Raymond Tomlin at 8:17 AM | Permalink | VIFF 2011

October 9, 2011

VIFF 2011, Day 10: Worshipping at the Church of Cinema

Imagine yourself on a Sunday afternoon at the 30th annual Vancouver International Film Festival. You've just walked into the Empire Granville 7, where you've been greeted by one of the volunteers, and are then ushered into a dark room with seats all facing forward. You feel reverent.

You are about to worship at the 'church of cinema'.

One hundred years on, global cinema has arrived as a form of transcendence, for many replacing the once venerated position held by the institutional church. Think about the similarities: churches and the cinema are both large buildings built in the public space. Both have signage out front indicating what is about to occur inside.

As physical structures, the church and the cinema create a sense of sacred space with their high ceilings, long aisles running the length of the darkened rooms inside, the use of dim lighting, the sweeping curvature of the walls, and the use of curtains to enhance the sacredness of the experience.

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Posted by Raymond Tomlin at 8:33 AM | Permalink | VIFF 2011

October 8, 2011

VIFF 2011, Day 9: Catching Up With VIFF Coverage Elsewhere

As we do each year just past the midway point of the Vancouver Film Festival, in today's VanRamblings' VIFF post we'll take a look at what others are saying, and have written, about the 30th annual VIFF.

Of course, we'll take a glancing blow at a few films, offering comment on a selection of VIFF offerings. VanRamblings has tried our best to dampen our oft-present curmudgeonly quality in, thus far, recording pretty much only positive commentary in our capsule reviews. Hopefully, we won't stray too far from our mandate to remain positive in today's VIFF posting.

First up, below, two films we could easily have done without seeing, and not have affected the quality of our existence on this Earth. Note should be made, as we have written previously, that what we are about to write in today's post constitutes our personal opinion on the various films under consideration, and in no way should be viewed as the definitive opinion of the worth, or lack thereof, of these VIFF film offerings.

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Posted by Raymond Tomlin at 12:08 PM | Permalink | VIFF 2011

October 7, 2011

VIFF 2011, Day 8: Week Two of the Festival Officially Underway

Heading into Week Two of the 30th annual Vancouver International Film Festival, those folks who are not die-hard Festival-goers (y'know, the type: VIFFers who attend 4 - 6 films each day) want to know: what are the buzz films at VIFF30, what are the must-sees in the final week of the Festival, on which films should I plunk down my hard earned cash to purchase tickets?

Lucky, lucky you: we have a few answers for you. Hang on to your hats for Part 1 of Week Two's buzziest, ya better not miss 'em, VIFF films to see!

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Posted by Raymond Tomlin at 7:56 AM | Permalink | VIFF 2011

October 6, 2011

VIFF 2011, Day 7: A Wrenching Day Emotionally At VIFF30

Showers cascaded down from the heavens on a rain-drenched Day 7 of VIFF, providing cover for tear-streaked Festival-goers moved by the hopeful but melancholy fare on offer at our Vancouver International Film Festival.

As for VanRamblings, we bawled our eyes out at the screening of Wish Me Away, the powerfully affecting Chely Wright documentary, and were no less moved by programmer Shelly Kraicer's emotionally involving tryptych of first class Hong Kong-based short films, 1 + 1 +1= 3 stories by young women, and found ourselves emotionally wrung out at an evening screening of Yoav Potash's extraordinarily inspiring Crime After Crime.

All and all, an emotionally plangent series of Wednesday screenings.

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Posted by Raymond Tomlin at 8:12 AM | Permalink | VIFF 2011

October 5, 2011

VIFF 2011, Day 6: In Which We Recover From Long Festival Days

The rain fell throughout much of Day 6 of the Vancouver International Film Festival, festival patrons a little waterlogged as a consequence, choosing in many instances to remain inside the Empire Granville 7 for one screening after another for some of the most challenging cinematic fare to come to our shores this year. We all, each and every one of us, love our Festival.

The 'problem' with the early morning passholder ticket line up (which we mentioned yesterday) was resolved on Tuesday, the line moving more quickly than many of us could recall had ever been the case. Thank god for small favours, and for the opportunity to get out of the rain, was the grateful morning chant among the hardy 300 in Tuesday's ticket line-up.

According to our friend John Skibinski, the digital cinema projection problems in the Empire Granville 7's Theatre 7 were not resolved, or at least weren't resolved for the 1 p.m. screening of Almayer's Folly; patrons had to put up with a muddy DVD 'print' instead. More work for VIFF tech.

Final note: Due to popular demand, VIFF has added a 10:30 a.m. screening of Bullhead, tomorrow (Thursday), October 6th at the Granville 7.

Tuesday we took a bit of break from reclaiming our humanity, the theme of VanRamblings' 2011 film festival, and caught only an evening screening at the Vogue Theatre. We've caught other films in previous days, though, that we haven't recorded reviews of on our site, so that's what we'll publish below today: three capsule film reviews, two of which (docs) are splendid.

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Posted by Raymond Tomlin at 8:23 AM | Permalink | VIFF 2011

October 4, 2011

VIFF 2011, Day 5: A Revelatory Day at The Vancouver Film Festival

By far, VanRamblings' four favourite films so far are Pure, The Sandman, Corpo Celeste and Michael. Utterly original directorial visions, with revelatory performances, fully realized creations, disturbing, humane, so challenging they leave you unsettled, rattled to your core, these four films are in a category by themselves, each of the films tour-de-force cinema.

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Posted by Raymond Tomlin at 8:31 AM | Permalink | VIFF 2011

October 3, 2011

VIFF 2011, Day 4: And The Rains Fell From The Heavens

While waiting on Howe Street for the bus to take us home after another 5 film day
at the Vancouver Film Festival, we were treated to an impromptu Robson Square concert

Since the outset of the Festival, the rains have fallen from the skies only once, and then only briefly. Sunday didn't bring a deluge, but rather a constant smattering of cooling autumn rain, dampening the sidewalks and those of us standing in line, but hardly dampening the spirits of the thousands of Festival-goers who are attending VIFF30 each and every day.

Day Four of VanRamblings' Festival was yet another day of spectacular filmgoing, where we were turned on our head over and over again.

Bullhead was a revelation, Headshot was a tour-de-force, Restoration was moving and one of our Vancouver Film Festival favourites so far, Innocence was twisty and turning while emerging with a sense of justice, and Granito: How to Nail a Dictator may be one of the most heartrending documentaries we've ever screened (the interview with the daughter of a one of los desaparecidos, now a lawyer, is the single most powerful scene we've ever encountered in a non-fiction film). All and all, a great day at our Film Fest.

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Posted by Raymond Tomlin at 8:23 AM | Permalink | VIFF 2011

October 2, 2011

VIFF 2011, Day Three: A Quietening, Warming Day at the Festival

Truth to tell, VanRamblings finds ourselves a bit tuckered, what with the five movie a day regimen, so we took it a little easier on ourselves on Saturday, arising a bit later than we usually do, enjoying a good breakfast at home, and thereafter meeting with the inimitable Showbiz Shayne in the languorous ticket line-up outside VIFF's 'home', the Empire Granville 7.

On the schedule, and screened, here are today's capsule film reviews:

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Posted by Raymond Tomlin at 8:31 AM | Permalink | VIFF 2011

October 1, 2011

VIFF 2011, Day Two: 30th Annual VIFF Off To A 'Disturbing' Start

From here on in, VanRamblings and Showbiz Shayne will schedule more tried-and-true Festival fare, and although we'll continue to screen the 'darker' films on offer at VIFF30, to some greater degree we'll turn our attention to more of VIFF's insightful 'cinema of the world' family dramas, or the many warm and irresistibly humane black comedies, the challenging noir thrillers, or the sumptuous South American 'travelogue' films.

Two days into VIFF30, where 'deeply disturbing' has turned into an early 'theme' of the 30th VIFF for Mr. Know It All and Showbiz Shayne, we are ready for a break from violence, anomie and the psychologically wounding, physically devastating film fare that has defined our Festival thus far.

Still, it hasn't all been devastating, deeply disturbing pitch black dark fare:

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Posted by Raymond Tomlin at 7:37 AM | Permalink | VIFF 2011

   

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